Less than a week separates The Master's University and its defense of the
GSAC Tournament championship.
What better way for the club to stay focused than with a non-conference sweep of Bethesda University on Tuesday afternoon, featuring a couple of milestones that catapulted the Mustangs to a 10-1, second-game win.
Coming on the heels of a 4-0 shutout in the opener, the
twinbill sweep was the Mustangs' fourth of the season and improved them to 26-23.
The milestones came early.
When
Max Maitland laced a leadoff double down the right field line in the last of the first inning, it was the
200th hit of the junior
centerfielder's career, moving him past Mark MacArthur (1987-90) into 10th place on the program's all-time hit list.
Moments later, he trotted to the plate ahead of Aaron
Shackelford, who swatted his team-leading 11th homer over the right field fence to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead, one they would never relinquish.
Shackelford's 31st career
roundtripper tied him for fourth place in program history with Phil
Seston (2004-06) and Dan O'Sullivan (1991-93).
That was all the Mustangs needed in the nightcap, but they had a lot more left and with
Eric Williams firing zeroes, this one was well in hand.
Williams (4-0) went five strong innings in his fifth start of the season, scattering two hits and striking out four.
By the time he handed the ball off to
JD Barr in the top of the sixth, the Mustangs had a 7-0 cushion.
They got there on
Adam Rubio's two-run single in the second inning,
Josh Robison's run-scoring base hit an inning later, and
Shackelford's two-run single in the fourth.
Shackelford wound up 3-for-3 with four RBIs in the nightcap and went 4-5 with five runs batted in on the afternoon.
The Mustangs wrapped up their first double-digit scoring game since March 23 (an 11-0 victory over Menlo) with three runs in the last of the sixth.
The club finishes up the regular season on Wednesday when it hosts Marymount California University at 3 p.m. at Lou Herwaldt Stadium.
That's the final tune-up before TMU opens play in the GSAC tournament on Monday against Hope International.
